Elders Express: Does boredom drive odd actions?

I'm no longer surprised at what people do, but I think I shall always wonder why people do some of the things they do.

As the hurricane/perfect storm Sandy bore down on the East Coast, we were treated to TV footage of reporters standing in the foamy ocean, barely able to keep their footing in the undertow of the crashing waves. I've never seen a reporter washed away in a storm, but surely that danger exists, and so I wonder how TV assignment editors decide which reporters to throw into the waters. Do some of them volunteer, hoping to gain fame from their daring escapades? Or do the assignment guys send out some poor soul who's become dispensable? I really do believe what I see on the satellite photos and have no need to see anyone buffeted by wind and rain as proof of its force.

In the why-would-I-want-to-know-this category, I received a press release about a dove crashing into a guy's window and dying. So the guy dressed the dove, cooked and ate it. There may be little difference between hunting dove for dinner and having a dove deliver itself to your home for your dinner, but the blogger included photos of the preparation process, which led blogger fans to debate the morality of eating a critter that's met its end accidentally. Why would I want to interview this person? Why would anyone feel the need to publicize such a thing? And, why would others respond? Don't people have better things to do?

I don't know why people need to blog anyway; why would anyone care about the details of someone else's life and top off that curiosity with giving an opinion about it? Perhaps blogging fans are bored.

Seniors responding to previous columns on boredom offered solutions: Volunteer, take long-lost friends to lunch, drive in the country, take up genealogy and write your family's history, get involved with children - your grandchildren or other people's children - get pets or give proper care to feral cats (spay/neuter, not just feed), feed birds and squirrels for amusement, swim, hike, bike, start a home business, work puzzles, grow an herb garden, do arts and crafts, clean out your collections and sort photos, learn a language or a musical instrument, learn about something you don't understand by researching it on the Internet or at your library, read books, read newspapers, especially the Elders Express column (Thanks to those who said that!).

And, I would add, watch TV and be glad you're not a reporter covering a hurricane and, if you blog, don't tell us if you have foul taste in fowl.

For the final solution to boredom, one reader offered this: "When I am bored, I lie down, close my eyes and start thinking of things I could be doing. Before you know it, I am asleep and not bored anymore!" Sounds like a workable plan to me.